Mobile devices have become an essential and inseparable part of the lifestyle. People use these devices for personal communications as well as for office communications, often carrying two or more separate devices e.g. a Smartphone and a tablet. Existing mobile devices e.g. phones, Smartphones, tablets and the like, have a multitude of functions that provide connectivity and communications services to a user. These devices are becoming increasingly smaller and more powerful and are used for making phone calls, checking e-mail, getting directions, playing games, searching the web, searching for places of interest on a map, amongst a host of other things.
In the past several years IP-based communication technology and end user devices have evolved to enable many different communication possibilities thus introducing several new services. As an example SMS has evolved from short text string messages that were limited in size to messaging services that enable the delivery of multimedia content without any restrictions on size or type of content.
Devices, mobile or otherwise, are often also used for messaging. Different messaging applications exist that provide mechanisms for messaging. Some examples are Yahoo Messenger, Skype, MSN, Viber, BBM (Blackberry Messenger), FaceTime, Whatsapp, etc.
Instant Messaging provides instant communication with another individual or group of individuals utilizing the Internet as a medium between two or more devices that are connected to the internet. Such devices may include Smartphones, tablets, desktop PC, a laptop, a simplified PC for Internet connectivity, SmartTV, etc. When a user is utilizing an Instant Messaging application, it may include other areas for messaging like a dialog box and a buddy list that shows a user-created collection of possible instant messaging recipients that are using the same application and have added the user in their list of buddies.
A buddy list allows a user to keep a track of possible Instant Messaging recipients who are online, thus letting the user know when her buddies come online or go offline. When a user wishes to send an Instant Message to someone on a buddy list, the user selects the desired address from the buddy list and enters a message into a dialog box. When the user presses the send button, a window immediately opens on the screen of the recipient with the Instant Message. The recipient can then respond by entering a message into the dialog box and pressing send. This continues as long as both individuals wish to have a conversation. Prior art instant messaging applications only allow individuals using the same application to be included on a buddy list. Additionally messaging is also limited with respect to both parties having to have the same application installed on their respective devices.
There are a number of shortcomings and limitations in the prior art of messaging and user verification. For example, a user must setup an account with the messaging service, which requires that a user choose a user name, a password, provide the phone number of their mobile phone etc. Additionally, each time the messaging service is used, the user must log into the messaging service to send a message to another user. This is also true in respect of other services where user verification may be required (e.g. e-commerce applications and services, online music, video, or gaming applications and services, newspaper and magazine subscription services, etc.).
Thus users must take multiple steps to setup an account, in order to send and receive messages or receive services. By overcoming these limitations of the prior art, the present invention seeks to make messaging and other applications requiring account setup and verification more accessible and convenient for users without compromising security and privacy.